Vulva & vagina
Nontumor
Mammary/mammary-like tissue and associated lesions
Author: Monika Roychowdhury, M.D.
Last author update: 1 February 2013
Last staff update: 10 January 2022
Copyright: 2002-2025, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Vulva ectopic mammary tissue
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Proposed criteria for primary breast carcinoma in vulva | Case reports | Clinical images | Microscopic (histologic) imagesCite this page: Roychowdhury M. Mammary/mammary-like tissue and associated lesions. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/vulvaectopicmammary.html. Accessed April 2nd, 2025.
Definition / general
- Occurs along primitive milk line, from axilla to groin; may be source of papillary hidradenoma
- Mammary-like anogenital glands are now considered a normal constituent of the perineum rather than ectopic tissue (Adv Anat Pathol 2011;18:1)
Proposed criteria for primary breast carcinoma in vulva
- Histology consistent with breast carcinoma
- Nonneoplastic breast tissue or DCIS present in vulva
- Supportive immunohistochemistry (ER+, PR+, GCDFP-15+, HER2+)
- No carcinoma in ordinary breast tissue or other organs
- Inability to locate other primary carcinoma of vulvar glands or skin appendages
Case reports
- 28 year old woman with vulvar lactating adenoma and fibroadenoma (Pan Afr Med J 2012;13:47)
- 42 year old pregnant woman with ulcerated nodule on labia (Case of the Week #273)
- 43 and 50 year old women with phyllodes tumors (Turk Patoloji Derg 2013;29:73)
- 47 year old woman with mucinous (colloid) adenocarcinoma (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2002;126:1216)
- 58 year old woman with synchronous Paget disease of breast and vulva (Eur J Gynaecol Oncol 2012;33:534)
- Lactational ectopic breast tissue of vulva (Breastfeed Med 2013;8:223)
- Multiple lactating vulvar adenomas (Obstet Gynecol 2011;118:478)
Clinical images
Case #273
Case #273
